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November 17, 2006 - 3:44am
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Hi BillJ,
I bought a pair of F12's on AudiogoN, and they are as good as KR says they are. I have only heard the Studios at a dealer showroom, but they are also a good value. I personally prefer Revel, but you should listen for yourself if possible.
Cheers,
Devon
You need to listen for yourself. Note that, despite my enthusiasm for the Revels, I kept my Studios.
Kal
Devon/Kal,
Thanks for your advice, I was, indeed, going to do a thorough audition with material I'm very familiar with before taking the leap. I was also considering the JBL Studio L series 880/890 and in fact stopped in at the local Tweeter tonight to take a listen. Unfortunately I arrived at 6:45P and they close at 7:00P so even though I had a little listen, not nearly enough to formulate a solid opinion.
I was left alone in one of their listening rooms so I could A/B whatever I wanted and I could hear the significant midrange difference between a 3-way with a dedicated mid-range driver (JBL's L890) and a two-way without (a Focal
speaker model unknown). I guess I had rejected the idea of of 3-way speaker as I started out with a couple of tube amps at low power and got into the thought process that so much is lost in the crossover (which may be so when your using a
2a3 tube amp with a couple of watts!!) Obviously with a sand amp there is substantially more power and if the crossovers are of high quality material I'm sure they detract little from the sound. Thanks again for the help.
Happy listening!!
-BillJ
KR,
If you happen to read this post again do you think a comparison between the Studio Ref 100 v.3 or 4 would be a fairer comparison to the Revel F12 or JBL L-880/890 since they are all 3-ways?? Maybe the JBL's are four ways I don't remember at this very second. Just musing outloud. Thanks.
As always happy listening and best regards.
-BillJ
1. I do not think that the #ways is the best comparison parameter. Price and size might be.
2. I am unfamiliar with the JBLs and the Studio/100s.
Kal
KR,
Thanks for your reply, I guess ultimately, within any specific price range, the ears are the best parameter to use. Thanks again.
-BillJ
Like above comments plus, I would consider which would sound best with your existing gear and also a question - do you plan to upgrade your gear with this next speaker purchase?
System integration.
Nunh,
Thanks for the reply. My gear will stay as is due to the WAF. The Denon 1930ci is a one month old purchase so I'm probably pushing the envelope with the speakers but hey, what the heck. What I will probably upgrade is my cabling. I have an all tube system(s) in another room which I don't get to listen to as much as I would like but can't get the wife to go for centralizing everything in one main room so I can enjoy all of my stuff. As a result I started to borrow some of the better cables out of that system and put them in the main home system. I found a significant improvement in what I was hearing just by putting a pair of Signal Cables
Ultras on the main speakers and a LAT digital cable from DVD player to receiver. So I'll probably start to replace my other mid to low grade cables with decent quality stuff, probably go all Signal Cable. I've found them to be a very good price to performance ratio product. Thanks again
Happy Listening
Regards- BillJ
The Vandersteen Model 2Ce speakers ($1500) are extremely hard to beat for that price range; the model 2 has been in production for over 25 years, in various iterations, and they keep improving. Every time Stereophile has reviewed them they end up in the recommended components list. They are full-range speakers with no bad habits and amazing coherence top-to-bottom. Many speakers in this price range have some good characteristics but some serious failings; the Vandersteens continue to satisfy when most others became tiresome in one aspect or another. If they have any failing, it is that they are a little soft below 40 HZ, but what speaker in this price range has killer bass below 40 HZ? I had the model 2 for 10 years and have had the model 3A for the last 10 years, and do not know of a better speaker for the money.
They are currently off of the recommended components list because of no recent review, but look back to April 2005 and they are there.
I agree with commsysman regarding the Vandersteen and i would like to add something.I value companies like Vandersteen quite a lot.The reason,they produce equipment with love and care and keep them on the market for years instead of "upgrading" them every few months and "pump up" the price every now and then.If the 2a was produced today it would cost close to $4000-4500.Consider it a bargain !
commsysman,
Thank you very much for your recommendation, I will put them on my list of must audition.
Happy Listening
I have been wanting to audition the JBL L880/890 speakers, but haven't had a chance. (They were reviewed in October [?] issue of SP.) They do, however, seem gimmicky what with the "UHF-dome tweeter...to 40kHz". How many of us can hear above 20kHz? When you get a better listen let us know what you think.
I have listened to both the Revel F12 and B&W 604 SE. Both sounded very good and similar and cost about the same. I'm waiting for my local dealer to get the B&W CM7, to have a listen.
I would also look at the Triangle Hileade, and the floor standing Epos 303 at $700...if accuracy is your goal the B and W may be a better choice with the above. What I got from the JBL review was that they sounded very good for the money, but might be better suited to a home theater setting as the bass was a little more than just accurate.
Now one should feel bad about liking the JBLs and buying them. If you find them more to your liking...that is what you should do. This hobby is about YOU buying what YOU like and not what someone else says measures better.
Regards,
I stopped by Tweeter, this past weekend, and heard the JBL L890s. They were connected into a 5.1 home theatre set-up and did sound good but it was an ht set-up - they were playing an Eagles concert. I agree with you, Jim, about the JBLs bass. HT set-ups have too many "parts" for me...I'm only interested in 2 channel audio. I was hoping to hear the Epos but the local distributor doesn't have any to demo.
I have a pair of JBL monitors I use in a small room and they work well.
Mike53,
I was able to finally spend some time with the JBL890s at my local Tweeter. I took some source material with me that I'm familiar with and was actually able use a Denon 1930ci player, which is what I have, to listen. I would agree with what the reviewer's are saying, it's a great HT speaker. I listen to mostly two channel and I didn't hear the accuracy that I prefer, for my ears anyway. It throws a nice soundstage and initially is an intersting speaker but I would find it tiring after a bit with just two channel material. As far as HT, it is a great "loud" speaker and, with the distraction of the visual, center channel, surrounds and sub, it's shortcomings would most likely go unnoticed. So the search goes on. I'm waiting for my local dealer to get the Pardigm Ref. 60 and 100v4 so I can hear the g-pal tweeter in them. The more I looked the bigger the field has become with highly regarded speakers in the 1500 to 2000 dollar range. Of course most of this is on hold until after the holidays. Thanks to all for their recommendations.
Happy Holidays and Listeing
-Bill J.
